Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Suzie is author of ‘Going Underground’ and her latest book, ‘Little White Lies and Butterflies’ is out now. Do visit her blog and check her out.

I have been nominated for several other Awards from fellow bloggers but (until now) I’ve not managed to post the Award or links. What am I like!! I’ll have a go at posting the others now that I think I have the hang of this.

Anyway, I have to tell you 7 things about myself and then nominate other bloggers/authors I want to receive the Award. All they need to do then is link back to me, choose their nominees and answer 7 things about themselves and post links to their nominees…..simples!

So 7 things about me which may surprise you, though I am sure you would have survived perfectly well without knowing:

Once when on tour in the USA with a band, we were invited on to a US Air Force Base and into the Traffic Control Tower. I got to ‘talk down’ several pilots; this meant instructing them to land on to the runway where they touch their wheels to the ground briefly before taking off again….without stopping. They were doing dummy bombing and landing/take-off runs. I seem to recall they were flying B52’s. Such a thrill. No-one crashed.

I have done the voice-over for an American Trans-Atlantic Airline long-haul Entertainment programmes, where the in-flight Music needed descriptions and listings.

Some years ago I was interviewed by the BBC World Service for a programme about Women in Rock (female managers) – in those days there were few of us and I can only think of Wendy Dio and Sharon Osborne who were well known then.

I’ve studied Image and Style and gave lectures all over England/Wales, including to a very posh Girls’ School in Kent, and to several titled ladies – they were great fun and I had such satisfaction seeing them putting my advice into practice and being told I ‘changed their lives’.

Can’t recall the year (possibly early 1980’s) but I was one of a few, specially invited people, to make the inaugural Trans-Atlantic phone call (via fibre optics) from Reading Berkshire to Reading Pennsylvania USA.

I’ve been interviewed live on air on USA Video TV channels across the USA as part of a Promotional Tour with my artists. At one stage in an interview – much to my horror, I had to give ‘relationship’ advice to couples who called in live to the station. I had no idea I was going to have to do this. Apparently I handled it all very well. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Nightmare.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of very famous recording artists, songwriters, record producers and actors, and I have found them (mostly), to be a lot nicer than their PR has led me to believe, and a great deal nicer than most of those who were not as famous or successful, and who thought they had to sell their mother’s to get somewhere. I have found myself making records and touring with people whose posters I’ve had on my bedroom walls as a teenager, or my son has had on his! A big thrill for me – still.

Well, you may or may not find any of this of interest. It is hard to list things about oneself which might possibly float someone else’s boat. These are some of the things which have left pretty big impressions on me.

Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog – prolific blogger and writer who has given me lots of opportunity (short stories and flash fiction), to peddle my wares and those of many others also. Morgen’s latest book is ‘The Serial Dater’s Shopping List’ – details on her blog.

Gerry McCullough – Irish writer and author of ‘Belfast Girls’ and ‘Lady Molly,’ ‘Danger, Danger,’ ‘Angel in Flight,’ to name a few.

So, ladies, congratulations upon your awards and I look forward to reading all about you soon. I know that Jenny Milchman is off on tour with her novel and may be a while responding, and Morgen Bailey is bogged down with her various projects, but do visit their blogs anyway. So much to see and read in the meantime. Actually ALL these ladies have wonderful blogs and website well worth a visit anytime.

Now I have the hang of this I shall endeavour to add my other awards as soon as time permits….what a lark!

Mary nice to meet you here. Thanks so much for the congratulations, that award was a while back now though I do have about 5 to add and acknowledge since then!! I shall be interested to read what you 7 answers were….I will pop and look. Thanks for your visit, lovely to meet you. Jane

Many thanks, appreciated. I am also taking part in The Next Big Thing blog hop – for the second time, so do pop over and have a look (under blog) here….or at anything else here for that matter. Lots to read….grab a cuppa and settle down when you get time, appreciate it! 🙂

Many thanks Penelope and I appreciate your kind words, I am proud to be your virtual friend too. Thanks also for the nomination for The Next Big Thing which I linked to Jennifer Garcia’s nomination as I thought three TNBT was pushing it a bit. I hope your books are doing well and please let me know if I can help at all. Appreciate your visits and comments. x

Hello Jane, Good on you! You’ve done several very interesting things. I was born and bred in Chicago. I usually tell people I’m a retired gangster! To get the conversation going. Ha, ha!
My only claim to fame is I saw Elvis in person in 1957 in Chicago, this was before the jumpsuits!
It was a great night, and I saw him fairly close before he left the building!

A the windy city….cannot recall the name of the stations but did several on-air interviews with my artists’ in Chicago on various tours. Enjoyed the people a lot, characters! Met a few ‘gangsters’ over the years – who have been written about and had to take ‘the 5th’ so guess you can see where I am coming from when I say I am cautious about relating certain events!! Elvis had left the building by the time we did shows in Las Vegas at the Hilton, but I could feel his vibes! Would loved to have seen him live…grew up singing into my cousin’s hairbrush – I was the Jordanaires and he was Elvis – he has looked like him all his life (naturally) but thankfully not as the Big E looked around the time he died. The Young Elvis and my cousin could be twins. David Stanley – step-brother – came to one of the West End shows in London we put on in 1987 I think featuring the cast from the show Forever Elvis, and he was compare for us. Oh and my cousin never had to don the jumpsuits….thankfully!!

Hello Jane from Phantom Bigfoot aka Simon Okill. Thoroughly enjoyed your blog. Been thru much the same with relatives who grew up with gas only. I have to agree with them all when they say they had no electricity but listened to the wireless every day. They insist the wireless was relayed. I gave up trying to explain it was the electricity that was relayed, me with a electronics diploma who knows nothing about electricity. Constantly having to visit their homes to reset their TVs sat boxes which they keep knocking off by using the wrong remotes. Their phones are always left off the hook so there’s more trips to make. Had enought moaning now.

Simon lovely to find you here, thanks for popping in. I know what you mean about wireless but apparently it appeared sometime during WW2 and only her father was allowed to switch it on and listen to it. When he was out on Air Raid Warden Duties, their mother put it on and spent the time dancing around the scullery, reliving the balls and events their mother attended when younger and better off. I too spend my time resetting Free-serve, sorting out the remote and so on…as soon as I’ve gone she gets the local TV repair man in (at great expense) to do it ‘properly.’ I am a female after-all, and incapable of doing it right!

Hi Jane. Congratulations on your award. I was fascinated about your ‘past lives’ – You are an inspiration. Look forward to reading more about you in your other award nominations. Best wishes for an inspirational 2013.

Helen, thanks for your kind comments. Past lives is the word…I feel as if I have lived several and at a great pace….taking it slower now. I shall put my other nominations on here soon…I have had them for so long and for some reason could not get my head in the right place to deal with it, so ignored them. Suddenly I found time and it fell into place. Silly me! Looking forward to more chats here and on your pages too. Enjoyed my visits there too. Have a great weekend. Thanks for commenting, it is nice to know someone is reading. All the best to you for a successful 2013 in all you do.

Congratulations, Jane and this is very much deserved. I read your blog regularly on my computer at work during my lunch breaks, but I can’t leave comments from there unfortunately! I really enjoy your posts. Keep on posting! x

Anne, thanks so much for your kind comments, always welcome….it is nice to know someone is out there and not bored out of their tree. I am pleased you do pop in as it means a lot. I find leaving comments difficult sometimes due to incompatibility re the method used..Blogger and WordPress for example. But I am happy you took time and trouble to
visit today and other times too. I have some more awards to post (if I get it sorted properly) so will be nominating soon…..watch this space. Do put a link to The White Cuckoo on here if you want….am happy to help promote. Thanks again, appreciate your support. x

Very sweet of you Kim, thanks for popping over and reading…I know there is a lot here to get through. I shall have to PM you to answer your questions!! Do pop back again soon and let me know what you think about some of the other items/photos…you can find them under About and Blog – your comments will be most welcome and appreciated. x

Thanks for the nomination Suzie, appreciated. I think everyone has at least ‘one book’ and so I hope I manage to get as far as you have. I am yet to write the music one, though I have about 60,000 words of a sort of music novel….so I am almost back to 4 books on the go again.

Marina, thanks – glad you enjoyed it…close your mouth in case there are flies! I had a hard time thinking of something to put as having been around ‘a while’ it makes it difficult to come up with things as there are so many! Ha, ha, but I tried. See you here again soon as I am off for the weekend seeing to my mum. Have a great weekend. Thanks for taking time to pop in and leave me a message. Really appreciated.xx

Congratulations Jane, What an interesting life you’ve had – really inspirational. Thank you for adding me as one of your seven. Trying to think of 7 things about me, will be quite a challenge, believe me. Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Phyllis, thanks – glad you found it interesting. Hard to think of something others might find even mildly interesting and the longer you live the harder it is to trawl the memory. I am looking forward to yours and I just know you will have lots of random facts for us all to read about. Enjoy your weekend and see you back here Monday…no stress!! xx

Congratulations on your well deserved award, Jane!!! You certainly inspire me. Loved your seven facts as you KNEW I would. LOL! I want to know MORE!!!! I want to know ALL! I am expiring with curiosity here!!!!! XX Have a great weekend, Jane!

Jane – Congratulations on your richly-deserved award! You certainly inspire me. I think it’s so interesting that you got to be an air traffic controller – so cool!!! And I’ve always been interested in your music/band background. I’m glad you’re getting just a bit of the recognition you deserve.

So kind of you Margot I am thrilled to bits…got another couple I need to add now I know how…such an idiot putting off doing this for so long. I am proud to inspire you….that is a very kind thing to say and you cannot know how much I appreciate it…you know you inspire me! Off to do mother duty this weekend…so possibly no computer, though she has been given an iPad at age 83 so I may get volunteered into showing her how it works….she drives me nuts with texts as it is! Rock on 83 eh! Enjoy your weekend. Thanks for taking time to comment, appreciated. x